The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost

myself out of the water. But—but
didn’t he come back here afterward, to get help?” she asked, realizing for the
first time that Gus hadn’t been among the rescue party the night before.
“Trixie, Gus went home last night on time,”
    Charlene
explained. “And he came to work this morning on time, too. That’s when he found
out about what had happened last night —and it was the first he’d heard of it.”
    “He
was there. It was dark, but I distinctly saw an old cowboy up on the bank,
looking down at me, and—” Trixie broke off and felt a wave of chills spreading
over her body.
    “The
Galloping Ghost,” Honey whispered.
    “Here
we go again,” Bill Murrow groaned.
    “Well,
if it wasn’t Gus, who was it?” Trixie demanded.
    “Probably
a gnarled old tree that looked the tiniest bit like a human face, and a gnarled
old branch that you mistook for a hand,” Bill said.
    “It
was so clear,” Trixie said.
    “How
clear is anything to a person who’s being swept away in an icy river?” Bill
countered. “You needed to believe help had arrived, so your brain supplied some
for you.”
    “But—”
Trixie turned and looked at Wilhelmina.
    “Mr.
Murrow’s explanation is very believable. The human mind is capable of
powerfully realistic hallucinations in time of crisis. I couldn’t help but
notice, Trixie, that you said you grabbed the hand and pulled yourself out of the water. Surely if it had been a real
person, you’d have had a sensation of being pulled up, instead.”
    Trixie
squinted, trying to remember the sensation. “I don’t know. I guess it was all
kind of a jumble,” she said.
    “Ghost
or tree branch or ring-tailed baboon, it saved your life by making you believe
you had a chance,” Bill said. “Let’s be grateful for that.”
    “I
wholeheartedly agree,” Wilhelmina said, rising from the table. “Now that I’ve
had a chance to see for myself that Trixie and Honey are all right, I must be
going. Thank you for the breakfast.”
    Trixie
and Honey followed her outside. Parked in the driveway was an old, wood- paneled station wagon that Trixie guessed was Wilhelmina’s
car. The girls walked over to it with her.
    “I’m
sorry you’re going to be leaving,” Trixie said. “We still have a few days’
vacation left, and I thought we could learn some more about phenomena from
you.”
    “Well.”
Wilhelmina frowned, struggling for absolute accuracy. “I may not leave
immediately.”
    Trixie
frowned, too, unable to understand Wilhelmina’s sudden discomfort. Then the
reason became clear. She was ready
to leave until she heard how I was rescued from the river. She sounded as if
she agreed with Bill, but she must have some feeling that there’s more to it
than that. Trixie wanted to ask the question out loud, but she knew
it was the wrong time. Wilhelmina’s embarrassment at believing in the retrocognition was still too strong. She’d be bound to deny
that Trixie had been rescued by the Galloping Ghost.
    Instead,
the girls let Wilhelmina get in her car, start the engine, and drive away. They
stood and looked after her, waving good-bye.
    “We
thought that Burke came here to redeem the family heritage that old Gunnar had
almost ruined,” Honey said softly. “What if it turned out to be the other way
around—old Gunnar making up for Burke’s wrongdoing?”
    Trixie
shivered and smiled at the same time. “That’s a nice thought, isn’t it? In a spooky sort of way.”
    “I
guess we’ll never really know,” Honey added. “But at least all the real
mysteries got solved. We know that Gus was responsible for the other ghostly
happenings. We know that
    Burke
stole Al- Adeen . And we know that the horse is safe
and sound.”
    “All
that’s left is the mystery of how I got out of that river,” Trixie said. “Was
it a ghost or a tree branch or a ring-tailed baboon? I guess we won’t ever know .”
    But I know what I believe, Trixie added to herself. Then, suddenly feeling very hungry, she turned and
headed back to the kitchen.